Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Lily and Ennio were very excited about today, October 31st, HALLOWEEN! Today was the day of the Halloween Parade at school and Trick or Treating at night. They left in regular clothes in the morning and had a normal school day until 12:15 PM. Then parents were allowed to go inside the classrooms and help their children with putting on their costumes. Marcus helped Ennio and I went to help Lily (I took the day off from work to be able to see the parade) and trust me, putting on a kimono is no easy feat!!! She needed the help! She did put on her own make-up, though, and looked like a lovely Japanese Geisha Girl! (We got the kimono in Kyoto last June when we were there). Ennio had picked out "Steve" from Minecraft as his costume. He loved it, but "the mask hurts my nose", so he ended up not wearing the mask most of the time. I enjoyed watching the parade, there were a couple of very original costumes. My favorite was probably Mother Nature (completely handmade!), but I also liked the Raincloud, Michael Jackson, and the Rollercoaster Boys. I hope you can see it a bit on the pics. At night we went trick or treating with May and her son Leon (Ennio's friend) and a couple of their friends. We stayed in our neighborhood and went up and down San Rafael Avenue. I think my favorite house was "the whiskey house" where a very nice old lady lived who served us, parents, Irish Coffee as a treat!!! It was a fun night!

Here are some photos of today.

GETTING READY IN THE CLASSROOM:



 




 

THE PARADE:

Waiting for Third Grade's turn.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mother Nature

As a bonus, this rap singer Silentó (okay, I admit, I had never heard of him, but seems like I was the exception in the crowd!!!) walked by our school during the parade, and asked if he could perform his hit single for the kids. The school agreed and before long, all the kids were shaking and pulling a "stanky leg" on the school yard! Only in L.A.! Afterwards, the rapper stayed to sign autographs and Lily had her homework folder signed!



TRICK OR TREATING: 

The mandatory Halloween pics on our balcony:



 

We went to May and Leon's house and had some food before heading out to trick or treat.



 

That's May and her dog Fifi!

The kids were waiting on the steps (probably already having some candy), while the parents had Irish Coffee!

Raincloud Girl

A skeleton driving the car!

 

Human remains on the barbecue. Grrr!

 

Downtown L.A. in the distance...

Phew. Another Halloween gone. Time to put those decorations away and get ready for November/December!

We go easy on our Halloween decorations, but some people go all out! I took this picture while driving to work.

Halloween Fest!

Halloween hosts Evy and Bram with kids Zoé and Elise!

Yesterday, we were invited to a scary Halloween party! From costumes to decorations to food: it couldn't have been done in a spookier way! Props to Evy and Bram for turning their house into a haunted party place! Everyone was dressed up (at least until we took our group pictures)... After that, the kids put on their swim stuff and enjoyed a splash in the pool. Yes, it's the end of October but it is still hot out here (last week, we had several days with temperatures over 40ºC). At night, the kids had mummy dogs, the grown-ups home-made lasagna and a chocolate mousse spider for dessert! The kids watched Tom and Jerry on the big movie screen outside and Ennio ended up falling asleep on the couch. Most of all, I enjoyed catching up because we hadn't seen each other in a very long time. Hopefully, next meet-up won't take as long!

Some of the awesome Halloween decorations: these hologram pictures changed depending from where you looked at them! There was also an old telephone, giving you creepy messages when you picked up, a crow with green lit up eyes making loud caws, vampire teeth eating our napkins,... Very cool!

Carnival of the Howlin' Wolves

This Friday night marked the beginning of this weekend's Halloween festivities. Our school held its annual Carnival of the Howlin' Wolves. This is a fun event with lots of game booths (each classroom had to pick and decorate a booth), a haunted house, outdoor movie, craft tables, etc. Lily's room did the Glow in the Dark Basketball Shoot and Ennio's room did the Fish Pond game. Other fun booths were the Boo Bowling, Mad Scientist lab, Madame Woo Woo, Laser Maze,... Ennio went dressed up as Steve from Minecraft and Lily was her usual green witch!

Happy Halloween!